Sure, the snow was here two days ago, but, pshaw. It’s salad time. Some desert parsley, maybe? Or some balsam root shoots, when they’re tender and sweet, before they get their throat lozenge […]
Spring Wild Harvest Begins!
Tragedy in the Spring Snow
Our little herd of nine does had two fawns last year. The coyotes got one last week. This doe is now being very protective. It’s hard, though. Forage is reduced by overgrazing, the […]
Winter, You are So Over
I just thought you ought to know.The sagebrush buttercups are here. Snow, you scare no one no more. Not the prickly pears. Not the moss. Not the grass. The sun is back.
The Mystery of Clouds and Ice
Clouds are water vapour held up by air, and are named after clods, or lumps of earth. Ice floes are clods of ice held up by water. But in the world of […]
The Spirit Whale of the Okanagan
Here’s what might sound at first like a fantastical story, but it does end with a deeply practical point. I hope you enjoy it! To start, look at the spirit whale of […]
The Black Moons of Mid-Winter
Fools call these moons asian pears and eat them before they are ripe. She was once the golden sun of September. Now she is ripe and oozing mysterious sugar. This is fruit for the […]
Reviewing David Pitt-Brooke’s Walk Through the Grasslands
I spent the early winter reading a beautiful and, unfortunately, incomplete book: Crossing Home Ground, by David Pitt-Brooke. It records an epic walk through the grasslands of Southern British Columbia: my own […]
The Pacific Northwest is Not the Southwest
Here’s a place. Squeezed in between the United States and Greenland. Canada. Best to stand right-way up. Lately, I’ve heard the strangest thing. I’ve heard that my part of the country… … […]
The Okanagan in the Year 11,748
This is pretty cool. It’s the Carte Des Nouvelles Decouvertes Au Nord de la Mer de Sud, Tant a l’Est de la Siberie et du Kamtchatcka, Qu’a l’Ouest de la Nouvelle France, drawn […]
Beavers and Trails in the North Okanagan
Here’s an observation about water. If I’m right, it’s pretty cool. So, have a look. This is a small part of the former Commonage Reserve, a wedge of land set aside for […]
Okanagan Okanogan 